Glenn Koenen has spent most of his career working for non-profit organizations. He was executive director of Circle Of Concern –a community charity with a food pantry based in Valley Park. Glenn was a founding board member and later president of the St. Louis Metro Food Pantry Association where he has tracked food stamp and other benefit programs for better than two decades. After running (unsuccessfully) for Congress from Missouri’s Second Congressional District in November 2012, Glenn joined the Board of the Missouri Association for Social Welfare and became MASW’s Hunger Task Force Chair. Please come give Mr. Glenn Koenen a warm welcome to our West County Democrats meeting!

Missouri has the chance to expand Medicaid to cover 260,000 working people.

However, Monday night the Missouri State Senate voted against putting Medicaid Expansion in the budget.

The key committee in the Senate to get Medicaid going again is the Appropriations Committee. Thankfully, they are kind enough to be traveling to O’Fallon this Saturday, to talk about driver’s licenses and gun ownership. We need to take this opportunity to have a different conversation with them, one about saving lives, creating jobs and passing Medicaid Expansion.

But we’re tired of them diverting attention away from what’s really important for working Missourians who can afford insurance and is the best bet we have for increasing jobs in MO

So, Rep. Chrissy Sommer has been contacting St. Charles County Democrats Facebook page, asking us to respond to her District 106 Survey. She’s also asking us to show up at the Public Forum on Saturday. We’re going to be there, but not because we’re afraid of the DOR, because we need to tell them at expanding Medicaid is good for Missourians, good for jobs and the right thing to do.

Senator Schaefer will be sponsoring a Public Forum on April 27th from 10 to 11am at Christian High School – common area (1145 Tom Ginnever) regarding the DOR/CCW issue. Please attend to be a apart of the discussion.

Join us at the Spencer Road Library on Feb 20th at 7pm to view the movie that tells it all.

ALEC EXPOSED – a worrisome marriage of corporations and politicians, which seems to normalize a kind of corruption of the legislative process — of the democratic process–in a nation of free people where the government is supposed to be of, by, and for the people, not the corporations.At an extravagant hotel gilded just before the Great Depression, corporate executives from Koch Industries, the tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds, State Farm Insurance, and other corporations were joined by their “task force” co-chairs — all Republican state legislators — to approve “model” legislation. They jointly head task forces of what is called the “American Legislative Exchange Council” (ALEC).

If we don’t have an informed electorate we don’t have a democracy. So I don’t care how people get the information, as long as they get it. Jim Lehrer

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SHOW YOUR LOVE FOR DEMOCRATS IN 2013

The movie event is free, but please consider making a give of financial support to the St. Charles County Democratic Central Committee. Your donation can be mailed to 2813 Droste Road, St. Charles 63301 or you can donate at our secure server online at www.stcdems.org

April 19—1st Annual Demo Quarter Auction in support of MO Children’s Burn Camp

One of the hottest topics in Missouri right now is the Expansion of Medicaid. Please take the time to visit the Missouri Health Alliance website to read about the efforts of the Missouri Medicaid Expansion Coalition.

St. Charles County Democrats Volunteer in our community. Join us on Sat Dec 1 at Salvation Army Food Drive Wehrenberg Theater Mid Rivers Mall from 3:30 to 5:30pm We need 10 volunteers to collect, stack and box the canned goods that come in. To participate with us call John Callahan @ 314-922-0248 This is our 3rd Year, Because Democrats Care!

St. Charles County is home to many farmers’ markets that offer beautiful, seasonal fruits and vegetables that come from right here in Missouri; not from Brazil, not from Mexico, but from farms within driving distance of where the produce is sold.

The more we buy these gems of nature, the more the farmers who sell them can afford to grow. And the more we eat of these delicious, nutrient-dense foods, the healthier we become.

But wait; there’s more! Trimming the distance our produce has to travel from field to table trims gasoline consumption, carbon emissions, and, of course, the price.

You may have noticed during a recent supermarket trip or dinner out that food prices are climbing steadily, and this upward trend is showing no signs of reversal. The long, hot summer of 2012 delivered a sucker punch to the processed-food industry by drying up the American corn crop. This industry depends on high fructose corn syrup for most of the products it puts on supermarket shelves and for the ethanol products it puts in gas station storage tanks.

Buying fresh, in-season, inexpensive produce at local farmers’ markets is the equivalent of getting a tax break without waiting for Washington to bestow one upon us.

So where can you find such miracles of economy and nutrition? Here are a few locations we can personally recommend:

St. Charles County Democrats work hard to get people elected who share their values and who care about making our county, our state and our nation a good and free place to live for all. But volunteering in the election process is not the only way to create a better America.

We believe that we achieve those goals through helping out our neighbors right here in our own community, our own St. Charles County. Over the years we’ve participated in many fundraisers with other community groups, non-profits and charities. We’ve also promoted events with speakers to educate our members and the general populace on crucial issues facing our county and state.

Here is a partial list of the events or groups that the St. Charles County Democrats have partnered with: Interfaith Partnership, Youth in Need, Habitat for Humanity, Saturday Jubilee (Operation Food Search), Martin Luther King Service Day, Countywide Baby Shower, Our Lady’s Inn, The International Institute, Operation Stream Clean, St. Charles County Homeless and Indigent Count. In 2006, we organized our own memorial service which honored the surviving families of the Iraq War casualties who were from the state of Missouri.